Using Essential Oils To Help Your Hives

August 3, 2016

Using Essential Oils To Help Your Hives

Did you know that using herbs for medicine was once considered witchcraft?

It is true! During the 17th Century they literally handed out tips as to how to spot if your neighbor was a witch. If you used herbs or natural oils you were thought to be mixing potions and could easily be accused of witchcraft.

Doesn’t that make you happy that we have progressed passed that? Because now we have essential oils on shelves nearly everywhere we look.

And that is awesome that they are so easily accessible because they serve so many uses…even for our bees.

So I want to share with you the essential oils that can help your hives maintain good health and also fight some of the most common ailments among honeybee hives.

Can essential oils help my hive fight varroa mites?

If you are not familiar with Varroa Mites let me give you a short introductory to these pesky little things. Basically, Varroa Mites are little bugs that attack your honeybees and brood. They actually suck their blood and cause death due to blood loss.

So if you have mites around your hives it certainly isn’t a good thing.

But are you a little skittish of using heavy duty chemicals around your hive? Perhaps you read our article about treatment-free beekeeping. Well, that’s okay. Because now you have options.

The first oil that is recommended to help fight mites is thyme oil. The main ingredient in thyme oil is thymol. This actually confuses the mites.

So if you use a screen bottom board along with the thyme oil it will ultimately cause the mites to become foggy-headed.

Then they will fall through the screen bottom board and not be able to climb back up to enter the hive. Pretty neat, huh?

There are other oils that will battle Varroa Mites as well. They are:

Eucalyptus oil

Wintergreen oil

Cinnamon oil

Neem oil

Garlic oil

Rosemary oil

Oregano oil

Sage oil

Spearmint oil

So if you are having a mite problem or just want to do some early protection, then these oils might be able to help you with that.

Can essential oils help my bees maintain overall good health?

You can bet a dollar to a donut that essential oils can help your bees live a healthier life.

Just so you know upfront, my husband and I are not strictly organic beekeepers. However, we do like to try different approaches to solve different problems. Since essential oils are supposed to be the natural option (and aren’t very expensive) if we can use them in our hives we will.

But one of my favorite oils for overall bee health is Lemongrass oil and we use a lot. The reason is because it is great for treatment within the hive itself.

It can also be used in swarm traps. We use it inside our bait boxes by adding a q-tip with a dab of lemongrass oil on it. Then bees will come from all over to see what is going on. This is because lemongrass oil mimics the honeybee pheromone that obviously attracts other bees.

I can say from personal experience, if you put lemongrass oil inside a swarm trap you will have bees that show up. You won’t always get to keep them, but they will come to check it out.

But lemongrass oil is good for more than just baiting swarms and treating your hive. It is also good at supplementing certain nutritional needs that honeybees have. We actually make our own honeybee health from scratch. Lemongrass oil is a part of that mixture every time because of the health benefits it is supposed to bring to our hives.

Now, I will warn of the one drawback to using lemongrass oil. It is probably not the best idea to use it on a weaker hive. This is because it does mimic a honey bee’s attractant pheromone and you are likely to draw robber bees. That is never good!

So just keep that tip in mind while you experiment with lemongrass oil and your honeybees.

What about American Foul Brood?

I am so thankful that I have never actually had to come in contact with American Foul Brood. I have heard lots of nasty things about it.

And most people tell me that when you come in contact with it you need to simply burn any bee equipment that came in contact with it too.

However, I was pleased to find that there are certain essential oils that can help to keep American Foul Brood at bay.

Since it is nothing I want to come in contact with, I’m seriously considering adding it to my mixture of essential oil treatments.

So cumin oil, lavender oil, and winter savory oil are supposed to be great oils to help battle AFB and protect your hives. To me, that is a welcome minimal investment to protect the hives we have from such a disease, but also to protect my beekeeping neighbors’ hives as well.

As always if you come in contact with AFB please be sure to report it so those keeping bees around you will be aware and watching for it in their hives.

So how do I administer essential oils to my bees?

Well, I’m glad you asked. This doesn’t have to be complicated. You actually have three options.

1. Administer through a syrup

You will make a 1:1 mixture of sugar syrup that can be fed through a regular hive feeder. The same way you would add your store bought honeybee health, you’ll do the same with your homemade or just a splash of essential oils.

When we feed our hives, my husband makes a big batch of honeybee health in a half gallon mason jar.

Then he mixes a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water for the syrup. Before he carries it out to the hives, he puts a few splashes of our homemade mixture (which includes lemongrass essential oils) into the syrup.

And I have to say our hives love it and have done very well this year.

2. Administer through patties

As you may know, you can buy winter sugar patties. They are meant to be laid on the frames above the brood.

But you can feed them like that throughout the rest of the year too, if you choose. Just make sure that you put a few splashes of essential oils on the patties.

Or if you make them homemade, add essential oils into the mixture.

3. Add it when working in your hives

Some people spray their bees with sugar water when working in them instead of using a smoker. The trick is, instead of driving your bees out of the hive while working with them, the sugar water just distracts them.

See, bees are very organized little creatures. They like to be clean.

So when you spray them with this water mixture they immediately go to town licking themselves clean again. Why not add the essential oils to the mix that way too? They will certainly ingest it as they’ll be busy keeping themselves cleaned up.

So now that you know what essential oils can help your bees, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Have you come across any other uses for essential oils in your hives? What is your favorite essential oil?

About Jennifer Poindexter

Jennifer Poindexter has 5 years experience as a homesteader. Bees have become part of that venture. She has a passion for sharing what she is learning to help others learn from her mistakes and thrive on their beekeeping journey. See some of her other writing at http://morningchores.com.

30 thoughts on “Using Essential Oils To Help Your Hives”

After ready several articles on oils, I read you make your own bee health with lemongrass. I am new to bee keeping and was wondering if you would share what and how you use them to maintain healthy bees. How much do you use? Thanks, Laurie

I simply love the thought of using essential oils for treatments to combat varroa. How would I actually do this?? I see and understand how to use them for honeybee health, which I also love the idea, but would like some detailed info on how to use the oils especially tyme oil in treating for varroa. How would I administer to the hive, how much would I use and where would be the best placement?? Have been enjoying the class and all the awesome reading!! Thanks so much!!!

I have been using essential oils last few years in my bees and have seen much success. I use Lemongrass, Spearmint and Tea Tree oils. I blend these in a 1 cup of water with Lecithin as an emulsifier. I blend in a blender for a couple minutes. It looks like milk. I then put this mixture in a half gallon jar. Fill with water and shake, again it looks like a jar of milk (blue john) I add 1/3 cup of this mixture to each gallon of sugar syrup to feed to bees. (do not use with honey supers on)

Bees seam to be much healthier, I had my best honey producing year last year. Been keeping bees 30+ yrs. email if you want exact recipe

Hi Robert Have you used any essential oils to treat SHB or Wax Moth? I have just discovered (fortunately in good time) both and my hive is relatively new so I swapped out 6 unused frames which had ALL been affected by the moth and the box. I want to use oils as a deterrent to keep these pests out! I’ve also noticed little roaches in the box. Any ideas? Thanks!

Ok. so I’m not crazy. The sugar syrup I’ve made using the essential oils Wintermint and Thymol and Lemongrass have a milky color. I thought the mixture was bad. I haven’t thrown it out. Have actually just mixed a new batch of syrup for autumn feeding and was wondering whether or not to blend the oils and add them to the syrup, even if the mixture gave the syrup a milky like color. Nothing smells rancid in the milky colored jars…..thank you for posting your answer.

I would love the recipe for your essential oils. My boyfriend and I have been trying to raise bees for 3 years now, we haven’t had a lot of success in keeping them alive through the winter and are trying some new things such as the Candy boards and some different insulating for the hives. I would love to substitue some of the water in the candy boards with your mixture. Thank you so much! My email is: centurydreamer@yahoo.com

Robert, I ran across your blog on essential oils and I have been using them with no recipe. Not sure if I am using too much or too little and was unsure about the brands to use. Many of the essential oils say not food grade so I am unsure what I should be looking for, any help would be awesome. Recipes etc Thanks MacDonald Drane Fredericksburg VA

Good morning. I found a recipe for thyme oil treatment for mites. It actually recommends being careful and exact as you can overdo it and kill your bees. What’s your recipe? Also, like thymol, is there a recommended temperature ceiling when you should not treat? Thx

Hey Robert, been having bad luck the past two years with my girls making it through the winters here in Michigan. We use essential oils regularly in our home on our family needs. If u could share ur recipe of oils for ur bees that would be great! Thx in advance

To all of you asking for recipes, I would recommend you look at the first entry and follow Jennifer’s link on her reply. Not only does it send you to a page with the recipe, if you follow the conversation, you will note that it also gives you the amounts to use per quart/gallon. Geez.

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